Space Launch Vehicle and System Engineering

MECH&AE 810.110

Understand the "big picture" of space launch vehicle design by exploring the history of manned and unmanned launch vehicles, along with current designs and future concepts. Learn all the design drivers such as…

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What you can learn.

Learn about missions, orbits, and energy requirements
Examine propulsion systems and space vehicle performance
Analyze powered flight performance, trajectory analysis, orbital mechanics, vehicle structures, and sizing
Understand testing, failures, lessons learned, and cost estimation

About this course:

Understand the "big picture" of space launch vehicle design by exploring the history of manned and unmanned launch vehicles, along with current designs and future concepts. Learn all the design drivers such as required acceleration performance, trajectory and orbit/escape injections. Lectures present orbital mechanics in a manner that provides an easy understanding of underlying principles including launch vehicle performance requirements and launch windows. Instruction defines the systems engineering aspects of space launch vehicle design, including the integration of the payload and the various launch vehicle subsystems and components. Instruction details design considerations, such as launch optimization, structures and mechanisms, attitude control, thermal effects, propulsion systems, range safety, and operational aspects. Review practical aspects of launch vehicles, such as fabrication and testing, including several examples of, and the lessons learned from, launch vehicle failures. The course concludes with an overview of cost estimation for the development and operation of space launch vehicles. The oral presentation is supplemented with the lecturer’s new Launch Vehicle Design textbook. This course benefits both engineers with a particular specialty or any specialist who needs to obtain a solid background of space launch vehicle design and how these vehicles must work together with spacecraft payloads. Managers who want to understand the many aspects of space launch vehicle design that affect their work, tasks, and scheduling also benefit from this course.

Course Materials

The lecturer’s new Launch Vehicle Design textbook and a USB drive containing design data will be distributed on the first day of the course.

Coordinator and Lecturer

Donald L. Edberg, PhD, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Dr. Edberg has over 24 years of experience in the aerospace industry and has been employed at General Dynamics, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, AeroVironment, Air Force Research Laboratory, McDonnell Douglas, and the Boeing Company, where he was a technical fellow. He currently teaches astronautics and aerospace vehicle design full-time at Cal Poly Pomona and is Director of its Astronautics Laboratory and Uninhabited Aerospace Vehicle Laboratory. He also has taught launch vehicle, aircraft, spacecraft, and structural design courses at UCLA, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine, and has consulted for a number of small companies.

During his career, Dr. Edberg has worked on launch vehicle and on-orbit space environments, aerodynamic testing of launch vehicles at high angles of attack, experimental modal, and dynamic analysis, launch vehicle load mitigation, reduction of on-orbit mechanical vibrations, and microgravity isolation systems, as well as the development of an electric-powered, backpackable UAV in service as the FQM-151 Pointer. He holds 10 U.S. patents in aerospace and related fields and was the inventor of and chief engineer for the patented McDonnell Douglas STABLE (Suppression of Transient Acceleration by Levitation Evaluation) vibration isolation system. STABLE was successfully demonstrated during the flight of Space Shuttle flight STS-73 carrying USML-2 in October 1995. Dr. Edberg is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and an active UAV pilot. Dr. Edberg is the author of an upcoming textbook on Launch Vehicle Design to be released by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) this summer.

Course Outline

Introduction

Engineering Design References

Space Launch Vehicle History

Early developments
Post-WWI research
WWII rocket development
The Cold War and early ballistic missiles
The Space Race
Use of ballistic missiles to launch spacecraft
Inhabited launch vehicles
Reusable launch vehicles
Current and future space launch vehicles

Missions, Orbits, and Energy Requirements

Types of orbits and necessary orbital parameters (orbital “elements”)
Special orbits (geostationary, Molniya, sun-synchronous, others)
Benefits/penalties from the launch site location. Current & future launch sites.
Estimation of gravity, drag, propulsion, and steering losses
Necessary injection speed and azimuth angle for orbits and escape trajectories
Direct vs. indirect vs. “dogleg” launches
Ground vs. air-launch systems
Vehicle performance curves; payload mass vs. velocity delivered (∆v or delta-v)
“Pork chop” plots for interplanetary missions
Launch windows

Propulsion Systems

Rocket engine terminology and definitions
∆v and the rocket equation
Predicting rocket performance: thrust, mass flow, burnout speed
Types of propulsion systems: solid, liquid, hybrid. Conventional & aerospike nozzles.
Types and performance of propellants
Liquid engine propulsion cycles
Propulsion system performance data

Space Vehicle Performance

Performance parameters & definitions
The rocket equation and mass prediction
Staging to improve ∆v delivered
Series & parallel staging
Calculation of staged vehicle performance
Single-stage-to-orbit vehicles: dream or reality?
Optimal staging
Design sensitivities & trade-off ratios: what’s the best location to add fuel for more performance?

Powered Flight Performance

Introduction to ascent trajectories, design drivers, launch vehicle performance
Vertical launch (sounding rockets)
Staging and performance optimization for single- and multistage rockets

Trajectory Analysis

Vertical & inclined flight in gravity
Vehicle coordinates, moving coordinate system. The local horizon frame.
Forces & moments on a rocket
Powered flight & gravity loss calculation
Atmospheric ascent. Drag & thrust loss.
Ascent trajectory simulation
Gravity turn, constant acceleration, constant thrust trajectories

Orbital Mechanics

Introduction to optimization: Newton and the Brachistrochrone problem
The SLV optimization problem: min gravity loss vs. min drag loss vs. aero loads
3 DoF Trajectory optimization techniques
Examples of optimized launch trajectories for different vehicles
GPOPS public-domain optimization code & input formats

Vehicle Structures

Anatomy of an LV ( Delta II, Saturn V )
General arrangement and design drivers
LV structure types
Metals and composite materials
Fabrication and assembly
Structural details and examples: thrust structure, interstage
Payload attach fitting/launch vehicle adapter and spacecraft/launch vehicle integration
Vehicle assembly process

Vehicle Sizing